Oops! Five Accidental Inventions

An old saying goes, "if you don’t learn from your mistakes, there’s no sense making them." That quote is especially true when it comes to ideas. Everyone makes mistakes, but only a few can see the innovation beyond the error. Some of the most famous inventions have been born through complete accident.

Read more articles from the August issue of InventHelp's newsletter for inventors

Accidental Invention #1: Microwave

The microwave oven was inadvertently invented in 1946 by engineer Percy Spencer. Spencer, who was working at the Raytheon Corporation on a radar project, happened to be standing near a magnetron (a device that emits microwave radiations). He had a bar of chocolate in his pocket and noticed after some time of standing next to the machine, the chocolate had melted. He focused the microwaves into a metal box and the microwave was born. Although it took 11 years for a domestic version to be introduced to the public, the microwave has now become one of the most common kitchen appliances.

Potato chips - an accidental invention Accidental Invention #2: Potato Chips

In the summer of 1853, a chef named George Crum unintentionally invented the potato chip while he was cooking at Moon's Lake House in New York. Annoyed with a patron who constantly sent back French-fried potatoes because he felt they were too thick and soggy, Crum decided teach the picky customer a lesson. Crum sliced a new batch of potatoes as thin as he possibly could, and then fried them until they were hard and crunchy. To top them off, he doused the chips with salt thinking the customer would hate them. To Crum’s surprise, the customer loved the new chips and they quickly became a popular item at the lake house and throughout New England.

Years later, Crum opened his own restaurant and put a basket of potato chips on every table. Although Crum never attempted to try to commercialize his invention, potato chips were eventually mass-produced and sold in bags all over the world

Accidental Invention #3: Scotchgard

In 1952, Patsy Sherman and her assistant, Sam Smith, were working in the lab at 3M trying to develop a new kind of rubber for jet aircraft fuel lines. One of the lab assistants accidentally dropped a glass bottle which contained a batch of synthetic latex Patsy had made. Some of the latex mixture splashed on Smith’s shoes and everyone in the lab was surprised by the result; Patsy and her team couldn’t wash the mixture off the shoe. Instead, the water and solvents beaded up on the shoe’s surface and ran off. They realized that this product had commercial potential to protect fabrics and began to further research the latex. They named the finished product Scotchgard - a combination of the words "scotch" and a misspelling of the word "guard". A few years later, Scotchgard was released to the market.

Accidental Invention #4: Corn Flakes

Will Kellogg teamed up with his brother, John, an MD and nutrition expert, to research healthy diets for patients in 1894. While making bread one day for research, Will accidentally let the dough sit out for too long and it became stale. When he rolled the dough to prepare it for baking, flakes began to crumble off the dough. He decided to bake the flakes anyway to see what would happen. It resulted in a crunchy food that the patients loved. Although they created a huge success with hospital patients, it wasn’t until 1906 that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were made available to the general public.

Accidental Invention #5: Cellophane

Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist, was working in a French textile firm in 1908 when he accidently created cellophane. Brandenberger was actually looking for a way to create a stain-proof tablecloth, and he attempted to coat the cloth with a thin sheet of viscose film. The tablecloths didn’t sell on the market, but Brandenberger realized that the sheet of film had potential.

It took him ten years to develop a machine that would produce what he named "cellophane". He patented the production process and called the company La Cellophane. The name came from combining "cello," from cellulose, with "phane," from the French word diaphane, which means transparent. Cellophane became available to the public in 1919, and in 1927 a waterproof lacquer coating was developed that made it more useful. With the lacquer coating, cellophane could be used to package food, since it was airtight and waterproof.


Back to August 2010 Newsletter

 

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